Artefacts of transformation: the material culture of Black Loyalists in late eighteenth century Atlantic Canada.

Summary

In 1784, approximately 3,000 Black people who had joined the British during the American Revolutionary War were evacuated from New York to Nova Scotia, alongside several thousand other Loyalist refugees.

This poster explores the transformative powers of three items of material culture in the creation and maintenance of a Black Loyalist identity in what is now Atlantic Canada: the book in which their names were recorded prior to their evacuation from New York; the uniform coat worn by one of the leaders of their largest settlement in Nova Scotia; and the Chinese porcelain excavated from the same site. Whilst the global connections necessary to bring these artefacts together in one place is acknowledged, their capacity to take part in the creation of a distinctive regional and ethnic identity is emphasised.